OCC to open its $35M library

Orange Coast College’s new library is set to open Jan. 3, officials said Tuesday.

“Everything is going well on the project; we’re kind of in our final touches in our hardscaping and landscaping,” said Richard Pagel, OCC’s vice president of administrative services.

The $35 million project began in March 2006, six years after OCC’s four-storied Norman E. Watson Library closed because it wasn’t meeting seismic-safety standards.

The new Learning Resource Center/Library is two stories, 88,777 square feet and the largest building on campus.

The library will open its doors to students the second day of winter classes, Pagel said.

The finishing touches, such as furniture, are being moved in the next two months.

Officials have planned for an opening ceremony in early February. Spring classes begin Jan. 28.

The new library is a big improvement from the 25,000-square-foot, 32 combined portable structures students have been using as a library since 2000 on the north end of the campus, a long walk away from the campus’ main grounds.

“This is a much bigger facility. It’s going to have the latest in technology,” Pagel said.

The Learning Resource Center/Library is OCC’s fourth library. Its first one was a converted Santa Ana Army Air Base barracks in 1948.

Three years later the majestic clock tower that still stands in OCC’s quad took its place. In 1969, the Norman E. Watson Library opened.

The Learning Resource Center/Library was funded by $21 million in state money and $14 million provided by Measure C, approved by voters in November 2002.

• The new Learning Resource Center/Library is a two-story, 88,777-square-foot building on the east side of campus off Fairview Road.

• It can hold more than 128,000 volumes of books and periodicals.

• There will be 10 private group study rooms, an open study area for more than 100 students, two computer labs with 60 work stations, a reading room and four media viewing rooms.

• The project was funded by $21 million in state grants and $14 million in Measure C approved by voters in November 2002.

• Doors open to students Jan. 3 with a grand-opening ceremony set for early February.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].